theinfozones blog: August 2016

Unethical Practice

Ethics Is Relative to the Place, Time and Circumstance

How long can you go on without taking a shower, one week, one month? The correct answer will be clear from this anecdote. A friend of ours was posted in manang during winter. In Kathmandu he bathed weekly but there he realised he had not bathed for three months. Did he not feel uncomfortable?
According to him, he did not feel uncomfortable at all because others around him had not showered in six months. Therefore, in that setting he felt cleaner!
So if hygiene is a relative concept, what is your take on ethical standards? The CFO said,” last year, I was awarded and lauded for the same things but the following year it landed me in jail.”

So what really is ethical practice?

A government staff refusing to pass a file that had no problems, without something under the table.
A government staff passing a file that should never have been passed, with something under the table.

These are common. But below is a new one:
Goodyear tyres was fined some million dollars for bribing people in Africa for influencing them to buy their tyres.
Every sales can be broken down into four components-the user, the decision maker, the gatekeeper and the influencer. It is ethical to give something to the influencer to speak in favour of your product to the decision maker? It is ethical for the gatekeeper to badmouth a product because that vendor did not do anything for him?
The line between ethical practice and unethical practice is a blur. Insider trading or the practice where someone inside the company tells a stock broker about a deal which will change the stock price significantly upon being made public, is regarded as unethical. However, gathering market intelligence is ethical.
Ethics is no longer black and white. Suppose I am a banker, is it ethical to take tips if I open an account? But then it is ethical for a technician to take tips for installing an electronic meter at home.
If someone leaves a company, is it ethical that he takes away office provided laptops with him? Also it is ethical that he pulls clients to his new company?

Components for Ethical Practice

It should not be against the law of the land we are in.
If what you did was told to the mass, you should not be afraid or ashamed.
It should be something you are willing to teach your child to do with the promises that will make him successful and happy.

So if we are doing anything we doubt may be unethical, we should put that practice under the above three litmus test.
Ethics can no longer be ignored. Ethics is the foundation of growth. Similarly, lack of ethics is the seed of destruction.
As managers we are often in dilemma. If a staff is unethical and we know it but he is a star performer, should we take action and even risk having to terminate him? Trunk call using office phone, doing household chores during office hours, taking home a pen or two, etc can be ignored.
But using office’s petty cash or worst using the money from collection, if found out, should never be ignored.
Ethics can never be an absolute term. It is relative to the place, time and circumstances.

THT

Three Golden Rules of Time Management

Time management is a contentious subject. Many of the prescriptions of experts and consultants can be both counter-intuitive and critical of how workplaces are actually governed. Its maxims tend to take issue with micromanagement and call for people to take control of their own time, work and personal lives. Ultimately, time management is a personal goal process, but there are few key areas which everyone should consider. These three golden rules are designed for both entrepreneurs and their staff and should help you to become more productive than ever.

THE TO-DO LIST

Every successful time manager has a to-do list of some sort and entrepreneurs are no exception. Sir Richard Branson believes in lists so much that he adorned the inner sleeves of his biography with them. To – do lists are typically done daily and are meant to help us focus on what is urgent and important. To-do lists are great for left-brain logical types, but for some they can be a problem. An action list of three things should work for most people. Write down three things you want to achieve and focus on those first. Take it as far as you can and then move on to the next thing.

ONE TASK AT A TIME

Concentration works best when it is focused on task in hand. Constant interruptions break our train of thought and increase the time it takes to do tasks. It is not always possible to prevent every interruption, but do not float between tasks. Also, try to limit distractions and persuade others to leave you alone when you are busy.

TAKE A BREAK

The final rule of time management is the most paradoxical of them all – do nothing. If we work around the clock, we become less productive, creative and prone to making costly mistakes. Everyone needs sleep, some time off and a little time to step back and think. Everybody needs to take breaks, although the exact amount of time required is a personal decision. Business owners who get too sucked into the world of work can dramatically reduce their effectiveness. A lack of sleep can reduce productivity by as much as 80 percent and mistakes are bound to follow. Entrepreneurs are liable to burning out and should step back before they do so.

THT

How to go to BIOS on HP Pavilion dv 7

Want to format the laptop and reinstall windows and need to go to BIOS for changing the boot priority.
On restarting, tried the normal ways like pressing DELETE key, F2 key etc to go to BIOS setup on Laptop (HP Pavilion dv 7). But not worked.
And after trying different keys, pressed the ESC key.
And it showed a menu with BIOS option.
Finally got the solution.
So, the solution is to press F10 key on starting the laptop.